Ageing as a method to increase bloom depth and improve retail colour in beef graded AUS-MEAT colour 4

Cameron Jose; Peter McGilchrist

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108665

Ageing as a method to increase bloom depth and improve retail colour in beef graded AUS-MEAT colour 4

Meat Sci. 2022 Jan:183:108665. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108665. Epub 2021 Aug 31.

Authors

Cameron Jose¹, Peter McGilchrist²

Affiliations

¹ School of Veterinary & Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia. Electronic address: c.jose@murdoch.edu.au.
² School of Veterinary & Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia; School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

PMID: 34492481
DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108665

Abstract

Meat colour is an important attribute for consumer acceptance but there is an interval between colour grading and retail display. This experiment investigates the effect of time post-slaughter (5, 14 and 40 days) on colour and bloom depth (after 1 and 24 h) for beef carcasses graded AUS-MEAT colour 4 (MC 4). Sixteen carcasses were selected at grading, 8 carcasses were graded MC 4 and 8 as compliant colour (AUS-MEAT score 2 or 3). At 5 days post-slaughter, compliant loins had greater overall bloom depth and were more red than MC 4 loins. Bloom depth (24 h) increased with ageing time but reached maximum bloom at 14 days for both treatments. After ageing for 14 and 40 days, the bloom depth of MC 4 loin was no different to the 5 day aged compliant loins after 24 h on display. Colour at grading may not be a reliable measure of retail colour considering the changes post slaughter.

Keywords: Dark cutting; MSA; Quality grade; Retail colour stability.

MeSH terms

Animals
Australia
Cattle
Color*
Food Handling / methods*
Red Meat / analysis
Red Meat / standards*
Time Factors